Noelle Reno – London Collections: Men

Posted on July 2, 2013 | by House Fraser

Year on year we are seeing men care more and more about their appearance. Men’s fashion and grooming is growing exponentially compared to women’s. This is why after spending over half my life in women’s fashion I’ve decided to dip a toe in the paternal pool.

This very recent exploration began at London Collections: Men in London. London has always been considered a must for menswear aficionados proven by the fact that last month the great Dolce and Gabbana and the greatest, Tom Ford, of the fashion world descended on Blighty to produce 4 days of serious fashion along with the help of the British Fashion Council and its Chairman Harold Tillman. Harold is a friend and I was so glad we got to catch the Matthew Miller show together.

The 4 day production is called London Collections: Menand it is a melting pot of all that makes London the most gratifying of the fashion cities (especially for men): unbeatable traditional tailoring, fashion-forward and thought provoking young designers, well-established luxury heritage brands, avant-garde streetwear, and a fashion-forward high street.

Here are the trends from the runways of next Spring/Summer and items currently in stock at HoF so you can be far ahead of the curve:

Sporty – Baartmans and Siegel:

This presentation was a tropical dalliance from the wet London weather. The design duo are a British/ American team who has created an incredibly wearable SS2014 collection based on the notion of escapism. As a girl who favours a real boys’ boy, I appreciated the masculine composition of the parkas, windbreakers, and t-shirts. The performance fabrics of perforated suede, peached jerseys, raw silks and honeycomb wools are a quick way to update your sporty luxe look.

From the casual and subdued, I travelled to the tailored and the flamboyant. This Savile Row staple showed pops of colour throughout his collection of formal and semi-formal items. Cream, tobaccos, beige, and strong summer blues were complemented by lipstick pinks, apple greens, and sherbet yellows. Perfect for golfing or weekends away. The business wear had a more creative edge for SS2014 with curved and wide lapels as well as bright stripes and fresh colours.

Miller asked us to reconsider how we think about branding. Whilst Baartmans and Siegel created their own badge of honor to adorn jacket arms, Miller deconstructed iconography forcing the viewer to impose the value. There was a strong post-industrial theme. The wire rope and concrete duffel toggles may not translate to the everyday wear, however his showcase of white and neutrals on denim will most definitely be popular at high street near you this Spring.

The Old Sorting Office in WC2, just off New Oxford Street, provided the ideal background for this Beijing-born designer. The runway looked like a runway of the future, or at least what we think a runway of the future will look like. We saw deconstructed suiting with aprons, macs, and pinstripes. Of particular note were the exaggerated proportions, my favourite of which were the un-hemmed sleeves which went on to cover the whole of the hand. If you don’t want to be as out-of-this-world as Zhou try for shorts that cut just above the knee and sleeves that go 1-2inches below the wrist.